This Women’s History Month, Chief Curator Lauren Brincat shares a powerful story from Harriet Jacobs’s (1813–1897) autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, detailing the author’s experience staying at the grand Marine Pavilion in Rockaway during the summer of 1843.
The poems of Jupiter Hammon, America’s first published African American writer, who authored his most significant works while enslaved at Joseph Lloyd Manor, are the focus of a CBS News Black History Month feature.
In 2019, we started the Jupiter Hammon Project as the lead component of a larger initiative to establish a more equitable interpretation of Joseph Lloyd Manor. The Jupiter Hammon Project Phase 1 full report is now available!
The painful effects of racial bias and the long legacy of slavery are now on full display in our country. Honest communication about race and the legacy of slavery in America is necessary to initiate change and foster a more equitable society. Through the Jupiter Hammon Project, we encourage all to enter into dialogue with those around them, to examine their own biases, and work towards true equality in words and in practice.
Jupiter Hammon and Phillis Wheatley were the only two enslaved writers in North America to publish works during the 18th century. Their poetry and prose reflected their deep Christian faiths and contributed to larger discussions about liberty and slavery on both sides of the Atlantic.